Ten Days To My Death

The Fourth Day (Pt. 2)

(back to Nat's POV btw)
I arrived at school and stood at the gates for about a minute before I spotted Chace arrive.
"Hey Antarctic! I'm- I'm so glad to see you. I had a nightm- a bad dream. Like, um, zombies." his voice is shaky and cracked, relief and tears clear in his eyes
"That's bad. I can't remember when I had my last nightmare." I reply with a small smile. I could barely even remember when was the last time I had slept.
"Lets head to class?"
"Mkay"
I sat down at my seat when we arrived at the classroom. I was definitely not repeating the mistake I made the other time, which caused Chace to fall. And hit his stomach. And make his nose bleed.
"Yo, Nat, check out the art that I did yesterday! I woke up to draw when I had my nightmare, and I just drew sad stuff to clear out the feelings." He hands me a half watercolour, half oil painting with bold streaks of the primary colours and detailed crying eyes drawn in white on the bright colours. Stars seemed to be swirling around the artwork, surrounded by a galaxy.
It was too beautiful.
"Wow- I, I can't even say anything. This is amazing dude," I look at him with widened eyes and compliment his work.
"Really? Maybe I draw better when I'm scared," he grins but laughs and soon smiles faintly.
I don't feel like talking anymore, so I turn my head to my bag and start taking out my pencil case and other books.
Chace has learnt that I'm weird in that way, and adapted to it. He smiles again and sits down next to me without talking and pulls out his books.
My mouth turns up at the corners just slightly and I nod the smallest nod in the history of nods, just to slightly how him that I appreciate him adapting to my lame attitude. Something about him seemed off, like a little sad, but warm.
"You okay?" the words tumble out of my mouth without my consent.
Chace looked surprised but smiled lightly and replied with a quick 'yeah'.
There was definitely something wrong.
"Seriously dude, did I do something?" I try to hide my concern.
"Uh.. Really, I'm fine. I'm just still pretty shaken by my nightmare. Oh well." he lies, but I don't push further. It must be something confidential if he didn't want to tell me.
(a/n: sry for interrupting, but I rlly wish I had a friendship like this. Ugh. I don't even remember my friends asking if I was okay.)
"Can I h-hold your hand?"
What did Chace just say?
"What..?" I am shocked and confused.
"Oh, uh, nothing. I just, I'm pretty spooked by my nightmare and I wanted to hold someone's um hand. Sorry if it disturbed you or anything... " Worry and regret is written all over his face. How does he make that pitiful expression? I can't help but say yes.
"Sure, actually. Uh- you can hold my hand. This is so cringe but sure.." I hesitate and move my hand just an inch closer to his.
Chace smiles almost immediately and the awkward moment was completely erased. I end up smiling lightly at his warm smile while his fingers wrap around my hand.
Chace's hands are not too cold but not too warm, not too dry but not sweaty at all. A perfect hand. What was I even thinking?
Who on earth compares hands anyway?
I shake away my weird train of thoughts and rest my head on the table with Chace's hand still in mine. I enjoy the moment and catch him staring at me for a spilt second, but I shrug it off and continue to zone out, thinking of nothing. His hands provide a very slight comfort to me.
~time skip~
The bell finally rang and I slowly packed my items before going home, Chace following close behind me.
I suddenly have a desperate hate towards my house, like a force pushing me away from it. I have completely no intention to go back there.
"Can I go to your house?" I ask Chace, silently hoping that he would agree.
"What? OF COURSE! IT WOULD BE SO FUN!" he exclaims too loudly and rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. A cute habit.
I smile a non-fake smile and let him lead the way.
"My mom will be at home, so be respectful or something? I don't think she would care though..." Chace continues to talk to me while I zone out until we reach his home.
It looks way more welcoming than mine.
The door has been painted recently, the lawn mowed probably just a day ago, and many flowers are growing healthily in nicely decorated pots. The house feels amazing even before I enter, I can almost smell how new the house is. It is almost completely white, with a baby blue roof that matches perfectly with the sky, and butterflies are fluttering their wings around the house like it's paradise. That moment definitely felt like a life changing moment for me, but Chace seemed used to that beautiful sight.
"Your house is absolutely breathtaking, Chace." I continue to gawk and admire the paradise-like house, and don't notice Chace already at the front door. When I do notice, I let out a gasp and hurry to catch up.
The door opens cleanly without a creak and we were greeted by a jovial looking lady and curly red hair. She looks like the main character of the movie Brave. If only I wasn't socially awkward, I would have felt so welcome and became friends with her.
"Hi there sweetheart! Chace, is this your friend? Feel free to come if you want, you can call me Alexis." The woman, whom I assumed was Chace's mother, greeted me.
"Thanks so much, I'm sorry for the short notice! I had a heated argument with my mom yesterday and I wasn't ready to face her yet. Thank you so much!" I force my strongest smile, and try to act like a completely normal person. A social person.
"No problem, do you two want some drinks? I can prepare some milkshakes!" Alexis suggests, and I look at Chace to see him nod. Alexis rushes to the kitchen to prepare and Chace leads me to his room.
"Dude, your mom is amazing. And you house is beautiful. This place is so cool...!" I tell him almost immediately.
"Really? Thanks. I guess I never thought it that way. And trust me... My mom, she's- she's pretending." Chace says hesitantly looking away.
"Uh- what do you mean? Pretending?"
"I- I'm not ready to tell you all about it yet... But ever since Lott- my sister, Charlotte, passed- passed away... This family has just been pretending to be happy. Like nothing happened. This 'mom' you see, she's pretending to be a normal mom. I know she's not okay, but I don't think I'm that okay either. I hate this pretending, I- I don't know if we'll ever get back, it hurts to say her name nowadays."
"Im- so sorry. I don't know what to do to help," I reply, I sincerely hope he was okay. Not like me.
Chace edges closer to me a stretches out his arms slightly, shyly signalling for a hug. His eyes look so sad I can't help but oblige.
Smiling, I wrap my arms around his back and he does the same, just that his hands are around my waist. Slowly, he rests his head on my shoulder and I rest mine on his, while we stay there, hugging, and I occasionally whisper an 'It's okay' to comfort him.
"Here are y- Oooooh! Sorry to interrupt! I have your milkshakes, you can continue now~" Alexis laughs and places the tray on Chace's study table before leaving fast enough for me to be unable to respond.
Chace rubs the back of his neck, then runs his hand through his hair nervously, but a small smile is visible on his face.
"Lets just drink the milkshakes," I break the silence and laugh just a little. Chace sees me laughing and suddenly bursts into uncontrollable laughter. His laughter is contagious and I breathe-laugh with him, tears almost falling from my eyes while I try to swallow my milkshake despite the wheezing.
It felt nice to laugh that way.

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A/N: AY, I'm done! Tysm for reading, I will actually be posting the fourth day part 3 because I am gonna include Nat's mom in the next chapter. I think it will be exciting, so get ready! Remember to recommend this story to others:) pls comment and vote:D

1453 words
Edited: ✔️